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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26997334">cavalieri without michelangelo</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/etoilette/pseuds/etoilette'>etoilette</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Kinktober 2020 [13]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Persona 5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Body Worship, Developing Relationship, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 00:14:19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,118</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26997334</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/etoilette/pseuds/etoilette</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Day #13 of Kinktober: Body Worship</p><p>It's preposterous but the Phantom Thieves are absurd enough that they just might have a hazing process. A hazing process that, nonsensically, involves posing (nude?) while Fox paints them. And here Crow was thinking it was all too easy to infiltrate them, as if Joker was something who would just let anyone and everyone join his team.</p><p>"Is the nude necessary?" he asks.</p><p>"I would prefer for you to bare it all to me," Fox says eagerly, rushing toward him until his mask almost scrapes against Crow's beak. "That way, I'll be able to capture every essence of your passion, ensuring a more accurate work."</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Akechi Goro &amp; Kitagawa Yusuke, Akechi Goro/Kitagawa Yusuke</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Kinktober 2020 [13]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1949695</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>54</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>cavalieri without michelangelo</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Warning for implied past MobGoro. Implied one-sided Akechi -&gt; Akira.</p><p>First time I'm writing a non-explicit fic for kinktober. There are a few other ones coming up that are just normal fun times haha.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It happens during their latest foray into Sae's Casino. Fox had been giving Crow a most critical sort of look from behind finger frames, angling himself this way and that. It didn't matter to him whether they were in battle, or exploring, or in a safe room. Looking at Crow took precedence over his own life, it seemed, and it was most uncomfortable to feel Fox's intensely appraising gaze on him at all times. Even outside of battle, Crow couldn't let down his guard for a single moment.</p><p>Is this Fox's way of keeping an eye on him? Are the Phantom Thieves suspicious about him?</p><p>"Fox, is there something you'd like to say to Crow?" Joker asks after a battle spent covering an inattentive Fox from the wrath of three Rangdas. He doesn't seem mad or impatient; just mildly curious.</p><p>"Hmm," Fox replies. He taps a finger against his chin as he stares at Crow, who simply smiles back, his head tilted to the side in an obviously cutesy manner. "I was just admiring your form. You cut a most distinctive figure in that outfit."</p><p>It's a very strange thing to say to someone, but then again, no one in Joker's ragtag collection of misfits ever acts like a normal person. It's worse than dealing with the old men that Shido surrounds himself with. At least Crow always knows what he needs to expect.</p><p>"Thank you," Crow says sincerely at the same second Queen yells, "Fox, you can't just <em>say</em> things like that!" in the most scandalized voice.</p><p>"Would you be opposed to modeling for me? There's an art piece I've been working on and I think you would be the perfect match for its motif," Fox barrels on, as if he didn't hear anything. "It's up to your leisure, of course. I'm free after school on Tuesdays and Wednesdays."</p><p>Crow pauses, his eyes wide. Modeling? For a painting? As an idol, of course, he has received many requests to pose for pictures, but he has never gotten a request to actually stand there for hours on end while someone stared at him incessantly, memorializing him with their hand.</p><p>"I..." he starts before he hesitates, scratching his cheek. "Well..."</p><p>"Dude," Skull says, rolling his eyes. "You're also gonna ask him to do this shit?"</p><p>"You better not ask him to pose nude!" Panther adds, stomping a heeled foot against the ground. Her face is vivid red underneath the crimson of her mask. "That was really embarrassing, you know!"</p><p>Fox's request had been so strange that Crow thought he was <em>definitely</em> joking, but the reactions of everyone around him are worrying, to say the least. It sounds as if Skull and Panther have had experience doing so, and he can hear Navi and Joker talking on the side about how Joker posed for him in a church (??). Queen still looks as appalled as ever, as if Fox was making lewd jokes right out in public, and Noir...well, it's hard to tell just what Noir is thinking.</p><p>It's preposterous but the Phantom Thieves are absurd enough that they just might have a hazing process. A hazing process that, nonsensically, involves posing (nude?) while Fox paints them. And here Crow was thinking it was all too easy to infiltrate them, as if Joker was something who would just <em>let</em> anyone and everyone join his team.</p><p>"Is the nude necessary?" he asks.</p><p>"I would prefer for you to bare it all to me," Fox says eagerly, rushing toward him until his mask almost scrapes against Crow's beak. "That way, I'll be able to capture every essence of your passion, ensuring a more accurate work."</p><p>"The nude is absolutely not — ow!"</p><p>When Crow looks over, he sees Panther rubbing her shoulder. A grinning Skull is standing by her side, poking her — he must have been the cause of the interruption. He certainly seems the type of person who would harass somebody the second they let their guard down.</p><p>If he is going to integrate himself fully with the Phantom Thieves, to take them down at their most vulnerable, he needs to do whatever it takes. Nothing Yusuke could ever do would match up to the shit that Crow had to go through in the past anyway.</p><p>"I would love to model for you, Fox," Crow says genially. The rabble pause, staring at Crow in varying levels of incredulity. For a second, it seems like even the loud jangling of the casino stops.</p><p>"Are you serious, Crow?" Joker asks.</p><p>Before Crow could even open his mouth, Fox grabs his hands and practically yells, "Of course! Thank you, my muse. I swear I —"</p><p>"I'll visit you tomorrow," Crow says cheerily and he rips his hands out of Fox's grip, already mentally exhausted.</p><p>But if it means that he'll finally be accepted as a Phantom Thief, then it'll all be worth it at the end.</p>
<hr/><p>It was a headache and a half to sit down comfortably in Yusuke's pathetic closet of a dorm room, with Yusuke's easel taking up practically the entire space already. Akechi's shirt and jacket are hung up on the wall, but his pants are still securely around his waist. There is no way that he is going to show <em>Kitagawa Yusuke</em> of all people anything more than necessary.</p><p>Thankfully, Yusuke's fine with that.</p><p>More than fine, apparently. He spent about ten minutes drawing something on the easel with a pencil, staring so hard at Akechi that he practically bored a hole into him, before he sighed and got up.</p><p>Now, Yusuke's fingers deftly travel down Akechi's chest and the soft foreign stimulation makes Akechi wince away despite himself.</p><p>"Is something the matter?" Yusuke asks.</p><p>"Ahaha. I apologize. But I should be the one asking you that" Akechi makes sure his voice is light and airy, even as he digs his nails deep into the palm of his hand. The last time he's ever bared himself like this to <em>anyone</em> was...the last time anyone touched him in this way was...well. It wasn't a memory he particularly likes to think about, nor was the person someone he wants to remember. "I was under the impression that you wanted to paint me today, not touch me."</p><p>"I should be the one apologizing," Yusuke says firmly. "I did not mean to make you uncomfortable in any way. I am simply trying to get a better idea of how to draw you. Your soft looks bely that determination of steel, which allowed you to awaken to your Persona. Like steel, hidden behind silk. I wish to capture that, but to grasp that reality and place it into my artwork, I need to have a firsthand understanding of my model."</p><p><em>Artists.</em> If he lets Yusuke ramble on about whatever it is he's saying, then this ludicrous night is never going to end. Akechi starts to tell Yusuke to get a move on when Yusuke says, "If it makes you feel better, I think you are one of the most beautiful men I have ever seen."</p><p>Excuse me?</p><p>"Excuse me?" Akechi chokes. He backs up but Yusuke follows, a fervent determination in his gaze. He leans way too close to Akechi's space, looking him up and down. "Wh-what do you mean by that?"</p><p>Yusuke raises an eyebrow. He doesn't seem the type to be condescending on purpose, but Akechi still feels like he's being mocked somehow. "Are you not supposed to be a detective?"</p><p>Never mind.</p><p>"I am, haha," Akechi says, making sure he keeps his voice happy and calm, even though his heart seethes with rage. "I'm just not quite sure why you thought it would be an appropriate thing to say at this moment...?"</p><p>There is a very confused look on Yusuke's face, as if Yusuke has any right to wear that expression. "Oh, would you like to listen to me talk about something else?"</p><p>Anything would be better than this.</p><p>"Please."</p><p>Yusuke hums. He moves his fingers downwards, and for the first time, Akechi realizes that Yusuke had never taken his hand away. Those long spindly fingers caress Akechi's stomach and he feels his breath hitch in his throat.</p><p>"Your body is beautiful," Yusuke says, his voice soft, as if he can hear or feel the rabbit-fast beating of Akechi's heart. "I can feel the strength earned from struggle after struggle in your life. How it has allowed you to survive until this day, to grasp the happiness present in your life now."</p><p>What a joke. And here Yusuke is, acting like he's some sort of perceptive genius, when he's nothing more than an airheaded artist.</p><p>"I don't think little old me is as much as you think I am," Akechi says.</p><p>Yusuke shakes his head vehemently. He brushes his hand over a faint scar on Akechi's side — long-forgotten from his earlier ventures into the Metaverse — and says that imperfections exist in perfection to prove that man are separate from the gods, that it was proof of Akechi's humanity. Akechi claims that doesn't make him any more special than the rest of the people living in the world.</p><p>His fingers strokes up Akechi's arms, marveling at the muscles garnered from years of bouldering and cycling, citing them as the result of Akechi's constant diligence. Akechi remarks that Yusuke's own body — strong as a whip despite his years of malnourishment — is a testament to his own force of will.</p><p>Yusuke reaches Akechi's neck, talking about how much conviction Akechi carries in his 'dulcet tones,' and Akechi can no longer even work up the energy to try to pull Yusuke back down to earth. He can feel the heat starting to rise into his face. Can start to feel his fists trembling, but not from any emotion he's ever been familiar with.</p><p>Yusuke caresses Akechi's face and he curses himself when he feels his body lean into it. Yusuke's open and focused gaze stares right into Akechi's soul, peeling away layer after layer. Akechi feels uncomfortably unperceived, like the deepest part of his person is being stared at and examined without his permission. And yet, unlike when the adults in his life do it, he feels...<em>warm</em> from what Yusuke is doing now.</p><p>Like he's looking at a broken doll and instead of finding it pathetic or disgusting, he's seeing it for what it <em>was</em> or what it could be. Like he's seeing the beauty of the craftwork, rather than the jagged edges of the porcelain.</p><p>The stirring in his chest is similar to what he feels around Akira, but less fire-hot. It feels warm, comforting, and soft. Akechi wants to shy away from it and yet paradoxically, he wants to lean into it. He wants to embrace it and see just what could happen if he accepts this one little thing. If Akira can't be his, then maybe —</p><p>"Of course!" Yusuke says as he pulls back. Akechi's eyes shoot open — when did he close them? — and he catches himself right before he tips forward into his chair — and just when did he start leaning into Yusuke? Yusuke looks distracted as he leaps to his feet and races back to the easel. He has the pencil in his hand again as he starts scribbling away furiously, never taking his eyes off the canvas even as he mutters, "Silk hiding steel, the wolf in the flock...of course....if I use this array of colours and these shapes...."</p><p>Akechi watches dumbfounded as Yusuke immerses himself into his art, lost in the world of his own imagination. It's like he isn't even the same person he was earlier. Or, no, that intense concentration never disappeared. It's just that Yusuke's focusing it on something else. Something he regards with an equal amount of passion, can devote an equal amount of focus to.</p><p>"Hahaha! You're ridiculous." Akechi wipes away the tear in his eye and he clutches at his stomach because this is just too funny. To think that he truly thought that Yusuke could ever view <em>him</em> in any way outside of an artistic interest. He can't stop laughing until he wants to wheeze at the pain in his chest.</p><p>"Are you quite alright?" Yusuke asks. There is a curious arch to his brow and he's turned his entire attention onto Akechi. It probably wouldn't do for the model to drop dead right in the middle of a painting session. "Would you like some water?"</p><p>"No, it's fine," Akechi says, and he knows that the smile on his face doesn't reach his eyes. Just like any other smile he's given to the world. "Please continue. I'll make sure to fulfill my duties to the best of my ability."</p>
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